Arpaio said his “surprise” sweep will be sometime in March, but stopped short of giving the exact time, and location.

In the past, the controversial sheriff’s sweeps involve officers swarming the often-Latino area and looking for immigration law violators as well as traffic violators, but critics have long said Arpaio’s deputies racially profile Hispanics during these encounters.

Arpaio argues that his deputies only approach people they have reasonable suspicion to believe they’ve committed crimes.